Microsoft's Windows Phone App Studio beta saw 30,000 projects created in just 48 hours

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

Microsoft launched its new online tool for new Windows Phone developers earlier this week, enabling those with app ideas to easily create and deploy working concepts. If you're a novice at app development, or simply reside in emerging markets and don't have an endless supply of funding, the Windows Phone App Studio beta is a simple solution that helps you get cracking without any obstacles. It's time to turn that app idea into reality.

Just before the weekend kicked off it was revealed that the beta had seen more than 30,000 projects created in just 48 hours. Microsoft's Bryan Tomlinson announced that the tool had in fact experienced higher usage than the company initially anticipated. Redmond is currently "throttling" the service to help control demand, but it's stated that should you be looking to get started with the Windows Phone App Studio, you shall not be targeted by lengthy delays.

Tomlinson also goes into some detail about who the beta is for - individuals who desire to deploy their lightweight apps on Windows Phones owned by friends and contacts, as well as those who wish to get a taste of app development. The beta shows what they can hope to achieve if it's decided that the platform will be taken seriously. Sure, it's not for the savvy developers who have worked some serious magic already, but the service is perfect for goofing around, if you will.

The news of such high demand is positive in a number of ways. It shows there's plenty of interest out there and that even consumers are likely to dive into light-hearted development to turn some cool ideas into Windows Phone apps. If you're interested in the free tools now available online, be sure to head on over to the Windows Phone App Studio Beta section on Microsoft's Website for more details.

via: TechCrunch

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

105 Comments
  • And so it begins...
  • Seal the gates! Archers on the walls! Prepare the catapults! Send word to Gondor, the Orks are coming!  :-)
  • Light the beacons!
  • Nerd❔... Just joking.. LOL
  • Awesome.
  • lol Rich Edmonds.. Redmond :P
  • :-P It was meant to be!
  • Lol. Good one! ;) 
  • Not really. Lol. I'm sure half of that is just a bunch of people messing around.
  • You know, a bunch of great discoveries came about from people messing around with stuff.
  • + 920 / 520 - 1020 x 0
  • So you +0 on this? That mean you don't like it?
  • +1.77 isn't zero...?
  • How do you get 1.77? Multiply anything by 0 and you get 0...
  • In a situation like this, you always do the multiplication and division first before addition and subtraction. Otherwise, brackets have to be used as I did below ⬇
  • By doing the math correctly? ;-)  Without parentheses, it becomes 920/520 - 0, so 1.77.  The whole thing isn't multiplied by 0, only the 1020.  Zero would only be correct if it had been (920/520-1020) * 0.
  • I know the PEMDAS rule, I guess I just inserted the parenthesis myself... And by the OPs response, I did it correctly, as he implied +0 in the first place. I was just trying to figure out why anyone wouldn't do it the way I did, and just assume the parentheses were there, as it would have been.
  • Nice backpedaling, but math isn't about assumptions.  There's a single answer for the equation.  Assuming parentheses that aren't there is incorrect math - you'd have failed any math exam with that thinking.  As stated, the OP was saying "+1.77" (which he has since acknowledged).
  • Read down, he says 1.77 is correct but he intended it to be 0. Fortunately none of my math exams have this low of a level equation, as I deal with mostly letter and symbol's in my math now. Thanks for the elementary school scolding...
  • I saw his comment.  It's math - intent doesn't matter.  The equation does, as it's written.  You can't just assume with math.  If I just "assumed" parentheses in my job, there would be a whole lot of problems, regardless of intent.  Order of operations always applies, at any level of math, with numbers and with variables.  And yes, order of operations is elementary school level knowledge, but it doesn't just go away after that.
    Best of luck in your future math exams.
  • Yes thanks, I'll remember this refresher course on my differential equations and vector calculus exams, now thanks to you I'll keep moving up the math ranks...
  • Glad I could help. ;-)
  • Well that escalated quickly.
  • Dude learn how to do math LOL
  • Lol settle down guys. According to BODMAS, 1.77 is right which would suggest I very slightly agree with the comment.
     
    However, the answer I intended was 0 to mean 'indifferent' to what ever I was replying to by poking fun at the commenters using "+[insert lumia model number]". Hence to clarify:
     
    + ((920 / 520) - 1020) x 0
     
     
  • I concer. Like Newton just messing around under a tree gave us gravity that pulls your shit to the ground and doesn't let it float in air, the force that shatters iPhones like prawn crackers.
  • He could have been wrong still. And it's "concur".
  • But Newton didn't "invent" gravity, just understood it better.
  • That's besides the point.. Why be difficult❔
  • This⬆⬆⬆⬆
  • You again...
  • Hello
  • Do you guys live on planet earth ?
  • I wouldn't start panicking at this point. I don't think this free service allows publishing publicly to the store, so we shouldn't see a bunch of family vacation photo "apps" flooding the space.
  • They can pay the $19 to publish through the end of August for a whole year...
  • I think this was a good idea. Now better would be to stop imposing the use of Windows8 to developers as well as creating a developer subscription with a much lower price (yeah, I know that they provide a developer phone...but developers should be given the chance to opt for a lower fee without the phone).
  • Windows 8? So do you want to develop it in Chromebook?
  • i guess ~48% uses windows 7 wile ~6% use windows 8. So a win7 platform for development wouldn't be such a bad idea after all?
  • Source of use? As far as i know W8 is as popular as W7
  • could easily bing or google it..
    http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/08/01/windows-8-now-up-to-5-40-market-share-after-seeing-its-smallest-gain-since-launch/
    http://netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0&qpct=6
  • It just shows that you're wrong, cause you were telling false information and that TNW source isn't worth a shit.
    Second link is right, but most of W7 users a casuals, devs and gamers transfering to W8 and W7 is losing clients significanly acording to steam.
  • Steam isn't a source of anything but information regarding games. Gamers are a MINORITY in the universe of Windows users. So yeah, TNW is a more reliable source for general numbers.
    But you don't like them? Fine. Here you have other sources, confirming those facts: Techradar - http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/windows-8-adoption-rate-can-t-match-windows-7-1148382
    ZDnet - http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-continues-to-fail-7000016222/
    Information Week - http://www.informationweek.com/software/windows8/windows-8-adoption-hits-new-low/240155994
    Redmond Magazine - http://redmondmag.com/articles/2013/05/02/windows-8-low-adoption-rates.aspx Shall I continue?
     
  • Isn't the development program web based? So it doesn't matter right? This is for Windows Phone 8 not Windows 8, IIRC.
  • Are you serious? People have already answer that for me, but here's again: MANY people, including potential developers, still use W7 and intend to keep it that way until W8 improves a lot (if you like W8, great. Accept the fact that many people don't and shut up). Locking development to W8 machines doesn't help the store improving.
  • You can't compare developers to regular users. You mentioned that gamers are a minority; well, so are developers. And both are typically at the forefront of technology, much more so than regular users.
     
    Microsoft can't always target lower platforms for development environments. It's not always realistic. In this case, the WP8 dev tools require Hyper-V for WP emulation. Windows 7 is not capable of running Hyper-V, and therefore can't be used for app development. Do you expect Microsoft to retrofit Win7 to support Hyper-V just to enable what you think developers need/want?
  • Provide a phone? No where does it say you get a free phone. Also, now till 8/27, only $19 to register.
  • As far as I know, Microsoft does hand over development phones for WP developers. If I'm wrong...then there's another reason why the fee should lower. Perhaps keeping it $19 permanently would help.
  • The fee is the same as Apples. You're thinking at Build is where phones have been passed out. But still, you can't call those phones free either since the registration for Build is over $1500. You get a free phone emulator with registration.
  • They don't provide phones it lets u unlock a number of phones three I think, u get phones from developing apps and contest like dvlup, and Microsoft new reward program
  • Thank you the original poster is smoking some ganja.
  • Since I'm in favour of criminal sanctions to whomever smokes any of those substances...doesn't seem like something I would do ;)
  • Yes, the number is three. I WISH they handed out free phones to developers... But yes, as was stated, those handouts are for BUILD attendees, who paid over $2000 to walk in the door, plus travel and accommodations, or $1500 if they were one of the limited number of early birds. And yes, I agree with those who say that development on Windows 7 should be made possible. I have Windows 8 but I realize not everyone has upgraded yet.
  • Ok, thanks for clearing that out.
  • It gives you the ability to turn your phone into a developer phone, allowing you to side load 2 apps, that is all, they don't give you a free phone when you register.
  • If you want to develop for a platform, you should be using the platform.  
    You can only develop for IOS on Mac. 
  • The point is hat Windows Phone 8 development should be possible on Windows 7, not Windows 8 development.
  • You can develop for Windows Phone 8 on Windows 7, but you need Windows 8 to develop for Windows 8... Why are people so misinformed?
  • Have you tried installing the WP8 SDK on a Windows 7 machine?  I have. It doesn't install.
  • No, you can't install WP8 SDK on Windows 7, but your still able to develop WP7 apps which work on WP8. I get your point though.
  • Yeah, the point is that while you can develop apps that will run on Windows 8 (and 7), you can't develop Windows 8 apps, which include a lot of nice new features not available on 7.  And you'll also have people with the 8x complaining about the black bars at the top and bottom.
  • By that logic you should be using a Windows Phone to develop the apps, and not a PC. The question is not allowing people on Mac to develop for WP (even though I don't really see the problem in that), but NOT restricting the development of WP apps to a certain version of Windows.
    The restriction of development to Windows 8 excludes everyone who is still on Windows 7 and has no intention of getting Windows 8 until: 1 - they vastly improve W8; or 2 - they get a new PC; or 3 - other reason. If Windows Phone was a big platform like Android or even iOS, Microsoft could give herself to those kinds of luxorious demands. But since the WP marketplace is still so small when compared with the competition, the last thing they should do was create new restrictions to prevent its growth.
    And this App creator online is the proof of that. I bet the vast majority of people who went to create their apps and give it a try on the website were using Windows 7 computers, and not W8.
  • You can't work on a Windows 7 machine because its a new framework. Hardware limitations. Has nothing to do with what you're talking about.
  • If it was hardware limitations you wouldn't be able to "upgrade" from W7 to W8 without loosing a single thing. What you said is bullcrap, and you know it ;)
  • This why can't I develop for WP8/W8 on Win 7, sounds a lot like people whining about certain apps not being compatible with WP7.
    Time to upgrade.
  • Yes some of them are just messing around, that how it starts and how you learn, until you have perfected your skills, craft or in this case the application that you're making, and then you besides weather or not to release it to the public for free or a price. I'm pretty sure that what Microsoft intended to complete with android and IOS application and app store.
  • Off: twitter app crush when i follow someone. Anyone else?
  • Use Mehdoh.
  • Or metweets. I've never tried mehdoh.
  • Having a 1020 now, I'm noticing how badly pics look once uploaded to Facebook. Mehdoh allows you to choose you upload picture service, pictwit, yfrog and a bunch others. I'm hoping WP Central would run a story in what service preserves the best clarity for these great photos for us that use social. Yfrog seems to be the most complete, but I'm still investigating.
  • At&t locker?? Plus you get 50GB for free
  • To store them sure. But just sharing the 5mp pic on a social site seems to decrease the quality quite a bit. I wonder how badly instagram compresses the image.
  • Lol, iPhones.
  • Good news :)
    Gonna give it a try myself, but everytime I've turned on my computer lately, a thunderstorm pops up out of the blue...
    Power off and use what left of juice in my phone...
  • It's a sign!
  • Guess so :P
    Now the sun is back, but haven't got the time.
    Oh well, maybe later... ;)
  • Definitely a sign ;)
  • I was one of those people. Took me about 20 minuets to put this together.
    The animation and transition feels like a native WP9 app.
    https://twitter.com/1dl23/status/364859725055135744/photo/1
     
    Go here to learn how to edit your downloaded files with Blend or Visual Studio.
    http://dotnetbyexample.blogspot.nl/2013/08/modifying-look-and-feel-of-your.html
  • Same here, worked maybe 4 hours on mine. Pretty awesome.
  • Here is my app http://youtu.be/MGzRA1mSiN8
  • Video quality is a bit shoddy, can't see much of what your showing when you tap the ellipses to show options, its really blurry. Also changing from vertical to landscape in the same video is poor form, and a peeve of mine. Other than that, its a cool feed app. Not dissing your work, just saying a better video might be beneficial to the audience trying to see your work showcased.
  • How much was made through the app tool?
  • Me too!!! I created an app and already sumbitted it.. Waiting on certification :D!!
  • Still waiting for the invitation code here...
  • As soon as you use that email they provide you with you'll get the code instantly emailed back to you. Verification of some sort.
  • Me too =)
  • thought of creating somehing useful in weekend.. but still haven't got invitation code. :(
  • I didn't need invitation it just let me sign up I love it as a starting point for many apps, I plan on using just for design purposes and save source code to add features later, great for surface rt
  • No invite code needed here as well. I just went to the site.
  • Does anyone have a promo code for the app builder reward program I saw a space for it when I signed up, I can't wait to get started been signing up for classes to take
  • MS need to separate this free app development, it wouldn't be good if store flooded with fart apps or someone else vacation album
  • You can get started and develop a wp7 app, which works on all wp8 devices. Saying you can't develop apps because you have win7 is just an excuse. The reason you can't do wp8 on win7 is a technological limitation. Windows 8 is an entirely new framework that doesn't exist on prior versions of windows, its not corporate decision to get more win8 sales :-)
  • I just spent maybe 5mins making an RSS news feed app for my club that uses the built in RSS from the site I built last year in Wordpress all using my Lumia 920, while laying in bed.. I see this becoming a useful tool for many :)
  • MUUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAAHAHA
  • Btw, I signed up for this, and the e-mail I then got, got automaticly sent into my junkbox (in Outlook).
    Microsoft marking their own e-mails as junk... FAIL.
  • Too bad the app generation process always fails.
  • It doesn't fail. As soon as you click install, its on your phone, even though it seems like there is an error, go look under your apps.
  • I got in!!! Haha~! Working an app... Just for a test run...
  • I love the App Studio! Great to hear that its going really well.
  • No offense but I can just see some of these apps now, again no offense. Just saying someone who is just learning isn't going to make the greatest app and were going to be flooded with them. I guess you got to start somewhere and someday they'll all be quality developers, right?
  • And one is mine...
  • I just sign in...would love to contribute for WP
  • I made one myself, and submitted it for certification. My son is also working on a WP8 app, but he is using Visual Basic. I'm too lazy to learn C# and the like. The App Studio did great for me.
  • please how did you get in touch with the app
  • It's at apps.windowsstore.com. I think you have to have an invite code of you are new. They had to start that after the huge initial response.
  • nice moves windowphone i am glad at ur decisions mostly the app studio beta tool its going do much in the app store of window phone kudos